#USNS Comfort (T-AH 20)

[captain-price-unofficially]

USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) enters the harbor during her transit of the eastern Mediterranean. Souda Bay, Crete, 22 January 2003

[nicholassabalos]

Yeah, they’re THAT big!

NORFOLK, VA & SAN DIEGO, CA (March 20, 2020) -- As the United States, and the rest of the world, take drastic actions to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus....the Nation is preparing to deploy two valuable assets -- gigantic hospital ships -- to coastal areas needing the most medical assistance.

Although the photo above was taken in 2005, it serves to illustrate just how BIG are the two United States Navy hospital ships, USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH 20)....

....with Mercy seen here sailing side-by-side with nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) off the coast of Indonesia (....providing huge life-saving humanitarian assistance following a horrific earthquake and tsunami at the time).

The two Mercy-class hospital ships are the third largest ships in the U.S. Navy Fleet by length, surpassed only by the nuclear-powered Nimitz-class and Gerald R. Ford-class supercarriers.

The ships are operated for the U.S. Navy (the medical staff) by professional mariners from the Military Sealift Command.

         A basic intro to U.S. Navy hospital ships Mercy and Comfort

Those two hospital ships, with their 1,000 beds, 12 operating rooms, and a staff of 1,000 doctors, nurses and hospital corpsmen -- EACH -- will have a profound humanitarian assistance impact wherever they are deployed during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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Each hospital ship will, essentially, take over/absorb as much of the routine non-COVID-19-related cases in the region as possible....keeping these evolving  -- the “life happens” stuff -- or emergency patients’s treatment as isolated as possible from the coronavirus when the patient’s immune system is already especially vulnerable....and allowing the hospitals ashore to gear-up to most effectively handle a possible onslaught of COVID-19 sufferers.

That’s the broad, overall mission of these hospitals-born-as-tankers in the 1970s and 1980s.

Likely, worth their weight (and size) in gold, again!

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        Inside the two hospital ships -- state-of-the-art medical facilities

USNS Mercy will head 100 miles north from her home in San Diego very soon....arriving on station in Los Angeles Harbor by the end of March....ready to provide critical medical support to one of the hardest-hit regions in the United States. (Mercy was originally slated to go to Seattle, but mobile military ground hospitals of equal capacity will be deployed there instead, with the need for the hospital ship deemed more immediately necessary in the Los Angeles area.)

USNS Comfort will take a little longer to prepare for duty, as the ship was deep into a repair and maintenance period (following her recently-completed lengthy overseas humanitarian assistance deployment in support of Venezuelan refugees) when the current pandemic emergency arose. Comfort should be leaving her home in Norfolk, VA in very early April, fully re-outfitted and ready, to quickly head to New York Harbor to support that hard-hit area.

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Considering the vast complexity and logistics of getting these two huge floating hospitals ready to serve effectively on the front lines against the pandemic....

....on short notice in a rapidly-changing and dangerous health environment....

....their proper readiness (try establishing a fine-tuned hospital of 1,000+ staff in two weeks) for sea and for the long, difficult and dangerous mission ahead is a miracle in and of itself. But both ships should be on station just as the situation approaches its worst across many parts of the United States.

Wishing the men and women of these two amazing hospital ships Godspeed in your missions of Mercy and Comfort!

                                         _______________________

>>Top photo: U.S. Navy; Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Gabriel R. Piper, USN (Note: the Photographer’s Mate rating was folded into the Mass Communications Specialist rating in 2006, shortly after the top photo was taken.)

[capewolfe]

In 1987, USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) is launched in San Diego as a Mercy-class hospital ship. She is the third Navy ship named Comfort.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Comfort_(T-AH-20)

[aiiaiiiyo]

Hospital ships USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) (left) and the USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) tied up at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) piers. (December 1986) [3000 × 2882] Check this blog!

[xairphotos-blog]

US Navy hospital ship is sending to Venezuela / As Venezuela tensions mount, US to deploy hospital ship to region http://www.xairforces.net/newsd.asp?newsid=3013&newst=1 US Navy Military Sealift Command’s hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) pulls into Naval Station Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 18, 2018. Comfort returned to Virginia after completing its 11-week medical support mission to South and Central America, part of U.S. Southern Command’s Operation Enduring Promise initiative. (Photo by Brian Suriani/USNavy) http://www.xairforces.com/?p=1847 #JuanGuaidó #Maduro #intelligence #SouthernCommand #USNavy #USNavyhospitalship #USNSComfor #Venezuela https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxk4M5eB21z/?igshid=xhcd0naopi0n

[statedept]

On October 10, the hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) departed Naval Station Norfolk on an 11-week medical support mission to Central and South America as part of U.S. Southern Command's Enduring Promise initiative. Working with health and government partners in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Honduras, the embarked medical team will provide care on board and at land-based medical sites, helping to relieve pressure on national medical systems caused partly by an increase in cross-border migrants. The development reflects the United States' enduring promise of friendship, partnership, and solidarity with the Americas. Learn more about U.S. engagement in the Western Hemisphere here: https://www.state.gov/p/wha/index.htm [U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Daniel E. Gheesling]

[defensenow]

USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) arrives at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay

[chivalrouswooly]

While I cannot attest to Calvinist theology or American protestantism - as (full disclosure) I don’t know enough about them. I think that there’s far more factors to blame for the handling of corona virus beyond “our culture not valuing collective effort”. In contrast to OP’s experiences, my family has seen, on many occasions, people nearly being torn apart or fought for not wearing a mask.

Americans do value collective effort. But more importantly, we value 1) personal liberty, 2) our rule of law, 3) the understanding that the lockdown was to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed (as was seen in Italy) and that it would be temporary while the government got their shit together.

People were fine for a couple months with businesses being closed. But bills still come in regardless of whether the government signs executive orders to close, and some people simply can’t afford to live off what the government was giving. 1) Therefore, they opened their doors despite the orders and received popular support (at least here in Michigan). 2) The government has no right to force small businesses (and people) into failure and bankruptcy in order to stop the virus. 3) American hospitals - while stressed, lacking PPE, and understaffed - were largely not at capacity. Most weren’t even near capacity. Hospital ships USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) weren’t needed, and even ended their missions.

A couple of examples of collective effort I’ve personally observed: a popular effort to produce masks for officers, and for medical staff in my county, reserving and donating hand sanitizer/cleaning supplies straight from Walmart to the police and medical staff, and I gave my own pre-corona bottle of hand sanitizer to the aging handman of my apartment complex (I wasn’t leaving my apartment ofc, but he still had repairs to make). If you want collective effort, you don’t have to look far.

Corona virus is SERIOUS. But it’s not sane to think you can close the entire economy to stop it’s spread. That doesn’t AT ALL mean that people should stop regulating their own behaviors (like wearing masks, social distancing, and staying socially isolated [out of personal fear, or predispositions]). Let’s not forget about herd immunity, and that ~80% of cases are mild, and only ~15% severe. (All while probably having a statistical bias against mild cases due to under reporting)

anyway while I think there is much to blame institutionally for the handling of the coronavirus, i think it is safe to say that american protestant individualism also played a fine role in this mess.

[nicholassabalos]

Mercy and Comfort on the way….

NORFOLK, VA & SAN DIEGO, CA (March 18, 2020) -- In response to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe....and medical facilities about to be pushed to their limits (and likely beyond) in the United States (as in most of the world right now)....

....the United States Navy is preparing its two hospital ships for deployment to American ports where they can provide most needed support.

USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), homeported in Norfolk, VA, is slated to head north to New York Harbor....providing medical support for critically ill non-COVID-19 patients....allowing shore-based hospital facilities to focus more on the expected crush of virus-related patients.

USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) leaving San Diego on another medical mission a few years ago.

USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), homeported in San Diego, may be headed north to the Puget Sound area to provide support to the hard-hit Seattle area.

Both hospital ships, currently undergoing long-scheduled maintenance, and not manned with medical personnel, will need a couple of weeks to ramp-up medical staffing to almost 1,000 doctors and medical staff (coming from active duty and reserve components)....stock-up on mission-appropriate supplies....ensure the ship and crew are free of the coronavirus....and proceed as directed.

USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) arriving back home in Norfolk recently after a lengthy deployment to assist Venezuelan refugees escaping dictatorship, socialism and societal collapse.

Both ships will bring 1,000 hospital beds and dozens of operating rooms to critical regions. Both ships are, of course, mobile....and can be redeployed as necessary to buttress medical facilities wherever needed as the unpredictable trajectory of COVID-19 evolves across the United States and the world.

USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) was last deployed to New York Harbor following the radical Islamic terrorist attacks that murdered thousands on September 11, 2001.

                                   _______________________

>>CLICK the two top photos for a closer look at these hospital ships that were born as oil tankers -- but never used -- in the 1970s....purchased by the United States government and converted to hospital ships in the 1980s.

[bm2ab]

Arrivals & Departures 30 March 2020 Celebrate the Arrival of USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) to New York

USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) is the third United States Navy ship to bear the name Comfort, and the second Mercy-class hospital ship to join the U.S. Navy's fleet. The USNS prefix identifies Comfort as a non-commissioned ship owned by the U.S. Navy and operationally crewed by civilians from the Military Sealift Command (MSC). A uniformed naval hospital staff and naval support staff is embarked when Comfort is deployed, said staffs consisting primarily of naval officers from the Navy's Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Medical Service Corps, Nurse Corps, and Chaplain Corps, and naval enlisted personnel from the Hospital Corpsman rating and various administrative and technical support ratings (e.g., Yeoman, Personnel Specialist, Information Systems Technician, Religious Program Specialist, etc.).

In keeping with her status as a non-combatant vessel, naval personnel from the "combat" specialties are not assigned as regular crew or staff. Underway embarks by Navy Unrestricted Line officers (e.g., warfare qualified combat specialties), enlisted Naval Aviation, Surface Warfare, Submarine Warfare, Special Operations or Special Warfare/SEAL personnel, or any Marine Corps officers or enlisted personnel, are typically limited to official visits, helicopter or tilt-rotor flight operations or as patients.

In accordance with the Geneva Conventions, Comfort and her crew carry no offensive weapons. Firing upon Comfort would be considered a war crime as the ship only carries weapons for self-defense.

Since March 30, 2020, Comfort has been stationed in New York City to help combat the city's coronavirus pandemic by relieving non-coronavirus stress from hospitals.

[histolines]

Hospital ships USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) (left) and the USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) tied up at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) piers. (December 1986) [3000 × 2882] #HistoryPorn https://ift.tt/2xusDzE

[kflemhealth]

U.S. Navy will deploy "hospital ships" in the fight against coronavirus

(Natural News) As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across America – with caseloads surpassing 7,000 on Wednesday – the U.S. Navy is looking to send its two hospital ships into action. In a press briefing, President Donald Trump said that the USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), currently moored in Norfolk, Virginia, will head for New York...

from NaturalNews.com https://ift.tt/2wrOwzu via IFTTT

[ocfinancial]

☀️Good Morning People!

Make your time used at home in a positive manner. ..It is good and important to stay informed, however for your mental health, please find positive relaxing activities at home to keep your mind and body occupied in more productive ways...

We will be baking goods for St. Jude Hospital Employees, bringing/Donating coffee to them and the local Police Station and firefighters over at station #2. LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP ME HELP

⛑️USNS COMFORT. NOW DEPLOYED.

🍁CANADA AND THE US AGREE TO CLOSE BORDERS TO NON ESSENTIAL TRAFFIC AS TO PREVENT EVEN MORE COVID19 SPREAD.🇺🇲

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Comfort_(T-AH-20)⛑️⛴️

[defensenow]

The hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) Arrives in Cuba